1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to entertainment facilities, and in particular, to theaters, clubs and multiplexes.
2. Description of the Related Art
While movies are a popular form of entertainment, home viewing of movies using VCR players, DVD players, and pay-per-view over cable, as well as competing forms of entertainment, such as sporting events, concerts, and computer games, are attracting consumers away from movie theaters.
Attempts have been made to boost movie theater attendance, by making theater attendance more pleasurable. For example, at many movie theaters, customers can now pre-purchase tickets to avoid waiting in line at the theater and to eliminate the possibility of arriving at the theater only to find that the movie is sold-out. Stadium seating has been incorporated into movie theaters to provide better sight lines. In addition, theater sound systems have been improved to provide more realistic sound reproduction. However, despite these attempts to improve the movie going experience, insufficient numbers of consumers are viewing movies in theaters. Hence, many movie theaters are underutilized, resulting in financial difficulties for theater chain owners.
In addition, conventional theaters have failed to provide an adequately exciting environment for the viewing of certain types of entertainment content. For example, one reason that concert films are often not sufficiently successful at the box office is that passive viewing of a concert film at a movie theater fails to approach the excitement and immediacy of an in-person live performance.
Hence, what is needed is entertainment that will attract more customers into movie theaters, thereby increasing theater usage and customer enjoyment.